Kamyanyi Brid (Kamennyy Brod, Kameny Brod, Kamennobrod)
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Zhytomyr

Execution of Jews in Kamyanyi Brid

3 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before :

Stone quarry (1); Vegetable garden (2); Pinery(3)

Memorials :

Yes

Period of occupation:

1941-1943

Number of victims :

Between 220 and 300

Witness interview

Stanislava S., born in 1932, recounts: “After the main execution in the quarry, the Germans continued to search and kill the little groups of Jews who had managed to hide. Once, on the way to my aunt’s house, I saw a shooting of Jews. My aunt lived on Zhovtneva street back then. Anyways, the Jews were brought by the police. The policemen conducted the shooting. Once there, the Jews were forced to line up at the edge of the pit, facing it. Amongst them, there were men, women and children.” (Eyewitness n°1661, interviewed in Kamyanyi Brid on May 3rd, 2013)

Historical note

Kamyanyi Brid is located 70 km of Zhytomyr. The first records of the Jewish community dates back to the mid-19th century. By 1897, the Jews represented 65% of total population, numbering 1147 people. There were three synagogues in Kamyanyi Brid. One of them, located at the factory grounds, was transformed into the local community center in 1928. The majority of Jews lived off of small scale trade, 22 shops were owned by the Jews. If not, they worked at the local porcelain factory, established by the Sussman family in 1862. Many of them were artisans. There was a pharmacy owned by a Jew as well. 200 Jews were killed, as a result of the pogrom carried out in 1919. Due to the pogrom, and the relocation of the Jews, the population decreased, and prior to the war only 857 Jews lived in the village making up 37% of total population. The village was occupied by the Germans in early July, 1942. By that time, more than the half of the Jews managed to evacuate.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

The field research helped us establish that the Jewish community in Kamyanyi Brid was exterminated in several aktions that started in August 1941, and not only in one, as mentioned in the historical sources. Further, at the end of August 1941, 220 Jews were shot in the stone quarry, located on the northwest of the village. According to the eyewitness that was forced to watch the execution amongst other villagers (interviewed by Yahad), the Jews were shot in small groups of two to four people at the edge of the ravine. Most likely, the shooting was conducted by Sodnerkommando 4a that arrived from Novohrad-Volynskyi specifically for this shooting. One of the Germans played harmonica during the execution. After that big execution, many Jews stayed in hiding, but often they were found and shot in smaller groups in different places throughout the village. The second mass execution of the Jews from Kamyanyi Brid was conducted on November 3rd, 1943. The Jews were driven from Kamyanyi Brid to the forest, located 3km away, close to the village of Dibrivka, where they were shot in the ditch. According to the locals, about 300 Jews in all were exterminated in Kamyaniy Brid and its vicinity.